2006 Upper Deck Series 2

These damn '06 Upper Deck packs are mandatory inclusions in every repack box nowadays. Either they let the presses run like it was 1990, or everyone ignored them like me. I think it's the latter as Upper Deck started offering meatier packs the following year. I wasn't crazy about this set when it first came out, but it's actually not as bad as I thought it was. Upper Deck's newer offerings are far superior but I don't mind ripping this stuff anymore.

799 J.J. Putz
743 Ryan Franklin
867 Ramon Ortiz
811 John Rodriguez
961 John Koronka RC
558 Rob Mackowiak
671 Lance Carter
II-27 Daisuke Matsuzaka WBC Inaugural Images

What the heck?? There was a Dice-K card in 2006 packs? Then why did we all go gaga over his rookie cards in '07? Ok, it's an insert, and he's playing for Japan, but still. I love these WBC cards and I'm looking forward to the tournament this spring. Bud Selig has done a lot of stupid stuff in his reign as acting commissioner for life, but the Wildcard and the WBC were good ideas. The rest of the pack doesn't have much going for it. I know we all want larger sized sets with more players in them, but when you realize that this 8 card pack originally cost 3 bucks you want a little more than JJ Putz. Upper Deck actually has their base set pretty tight right now, two 400 card series (just over 792!) some highlights cards, some team checklist cards, it's a pretty good set. I'd prefer the team checklists be replaced by league leader cards or some other subset but it doesn't wreck the set. Maybe just save the team checklist cards for the second half and put both series on the back. One per series isn't necessary. Oh wait, this is a 2006 pack rip. Um... Rob Mackowiak's card looks cool. That's all I got. Looking forward to 2009 Upper Deck though...